Chase Infiniti Outshines Everyone in Her New Uneven Coming-of-Age Drama | TIFF Review

Published Sep 21, 2026, 5:00 PM EDT

Therese Lacson is a Senior TV Editor who has been with Collider since 2021. She got started in this business over ten years ago working primarily as an interviewer and critic. At Collider, she works closely with the features team to support the writers and also ideates and develops content daily. She has covered major industry events including Cannes Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, Toronto International Film Festival, and San Diego Comic-Con. Although she reviews and covers both film and television, her focus is in television and her expertise is in fantasy and sci-fi genre shows. Her favorite shows to cover include House of the Dragon, Bridgerton, Fallout, 9-1-1, and Rivals. 

The phrase "women in STEM" has been reiterated so many times over the last two decades that it's become a meme at this point. But The Julia Set is a nice reminder of why the emphasis on bringing women into fields of science, tech, engineering, and mathematics is still so important. Written and directed by Niki Byrne, The Julia Set tells the story of a brilliant young mathematician named Julia (Chase Infiniti) who falls in love with her TA, Pascal (Christopher Briney), and is soon pulled into a toxic relationship as the couple study for the prestigious and notoriously difficult Putnam Test. Julia quickly learns that she's fallen into a system where everyone will prioritize Pascal over her— and that includes Pascal himself. An emotional and uplifting story, Byrne may have landed a crowd-pleaser with The Julia Set, but the TIFF film still lacks punch to stand out from the crowd.

What is 'The Julia Set' About?

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When we first meet Julia, she is a young and slightly insecure mathematics student. She is soon spotted by her math TA, Pascal Mandelbrot, who suggests that she might be the perfect candidate for a private study group held by the chilly Dr. Zatlan (Nina Hoss). The group is prepping for the Putnam Test, an exam based on the real-life annual mathematics competition of the same name — one that is so complicated that getting a zero out of 120 is the median score for participants. With its time constraints and the pressure to perform, students have to prepare extensively just to complete the test properly.

But what starts as an endeavor that brings Pascal and Julia together quickly begins to reveal the red flags in the relationship, as it turns out that Julia might just be more naturally talented at math than her boyfriend. Throughout the film, Pascal lovebombs Julia, taking their relationship through milestones at breakneck speed while simultaneously negging her and taking credit for her work. The toxicity of their relationship comes to a head when Julia is introduced to Pascal's parents, Aleksander (Jason Isaacs) and Anne (Gillian Anderson).

Much like Pascal and Julia, Aleksander and Anne are also a pair of mathematicians (as well as a former TA and his student). And although Pascal is clearly the victim of Aleksander's emotional abuse and lofty expectations, he also displays the same toxic behavior as his father, who seems to have no problem taking credit for his wife's work, too. Tensions rise as the test date approaches, and Pascal's grip on his own sanity starts to loosen. He lashes out at Julia, poking at her insecurities, and ultimately proving that he's far from the knight in shining armor that she imagined him to be when they first met.

Chase Infiniti Outshines Everyone in 'The Julia Set'

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The highlight of The Julia Set is undoubtedly Chase Infiniti's performance. We already know she can hold it down from her standout performance in One Battle After Another, but her gifts are made even more obvious here. Infiniti plays Julia with the passion needed for a character who is ready to dedicate her whole life to one thing, while also being able to portray her as a shy and restrained college student who is slowly coming out of her shell. In anyone else's hands, Julia's character might feel a tad stereotypical and one-dimensional, but Infiniti's performance not only makes us want to root for her character — it makes us instantly protective of her when Pascal lashes out at her.

Although you could argue that Briney's Pascal has the makings of a deuteragonist, his performance comes up lacking in comparison to the rest of the talented cast and definitely opposite Infiniti. It's obvious to anyone with eyes that Pascal is bad news when we meet him. Briney rightly leans into the character's neuroses, but he hasn't been able to shake the Summer I Turned Pretty image that he's earned after playing one of that show's leads. While he might have perfected the aloof cute guy in his time as Conrad Fisher, Pascal feels like simply another iteration of the character, albeit a much darker version.

Balancing his weak performance are Isaacs and Anderson, who offer strong, if brief, turns as the Mandelbrots. Isaacs, who already has experience playing a menacing father thanks to his role as Lucius Malfoy in the Harry Potter series, doubles down on those traits with Aleksander. It's in these moments opposite Isaacs that Briney arguably stretches his acting muscles the most. Isaacs' cold and sharp performance cuts like a knife and exposes the rotten core of this prestigious family. Anderson, who plays the far more stereotypical role of a long-suffering wife, manages to still imbue her character with gravitas in a way that adds depth to a cookie-cutter character.

'The Julia Set' Fails To Hit All the Marks as a Drama

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Unfortunately, while The Julia Set has many redeeming qualities, Byrne's script comes off as stilted, and the dialogue is wooden at the best of times. Whether it's due to a poor performance or simply bad writing, The Julia Set doesn't do enough to set itself apart from academic dramas and ends up leaning on the most expected of story beats. The film is heavy-handed in the way it constantly reminds us that mathematics is not only a male-dominated field, but one where men will always seemingly get the benefit of the doubt over a woman. The saccharine ending is one you'll see coming from a mile away, especially as the movie swings dramatically from a cerebral drama into the land of melodrama.

Sadly, it's this failure to take risks that ultimately brings the whole movie down, especially since you can predict the ending by the time we're just past the mid-point. While the more dynamic approach might have been to position the film more in the vein of a thriller — one that leans into a more ambiguous third act to keep us on our toes — the film's uplifting message at the end might be enough to satiate general audiences. For a feature debut from Byrne, the film is a successful, if somewhat bland, entry; it's worth it for Infiniti's performance, but don't expect any twists or turns to come.

Cast

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  Christopher Briney

  Pascal

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  Chase Infiniti

  Julia

Pros & Cons

• Chase Infiniti offers the strongest performance of the bunch, able to capture the nuance of her character perfectly.
• Jason Isaacs and Gillian Anderson give fantastic supporting performances, adding depth to the film despite its predictability.

• Christopher Briney struggles to shake off his previous roles and lands as the least impactful actor of the bunch.
• The dialogue and script are stilted, not taking enough chances to push it out of the land of predictability.